No Holidays without Dialysis

Making a short stop at the airport in order to book a last-minute flight for next week – this is impossible for people who suffer from chronic kidney failure. When they want to travel, they have to plan their holiday in advance as they depend on a centre for dialysis where their blood can be cleansed.

01.06.2007

A healthy kidney filters toxic elements from the blood and regulates the water supply of the body. If it does not work, humans have to undergo dialysis, else their body would contaminate itself. Almost 65,000 people need a dialysis in Germany. Three times a week, most have to go to centres, where their blood is passed through an artificial kidney machine for four to five hours in a procedure called haemodialysis.

Nevertheless, nobody has to miss out on travelling. If a patient who suffers from chronic kidney failure wants a holiday, he should rather go to his physician than to a travel agent. “It is very important that the doctor attests the dialysis patient’s capability to travel, before one starts considering a journey”, says Dr.Werner Kleophas, nephrologist and diabetologist from Duesseldorf, Germany.

After that, the patient needs to find a dialysis centre in the vicinity of the holiday resort. “Over the past ten years, many dialysis centres were created at travel sites in Germany and in other European countries. There, enough capacity exists in order to take care of guest patients” says Kleophas, who is also chairman of the Association of German Nephrology Centres (Verband Deutsche Nierenzentren der DDnÄ) where numerous possibilities for dialysis in Germany can be found. A booklet can be ordered for € 1,44 postage with the association.

The union of patients, the German Kidney Association (Bundesverband Niere), which is the umbrella association of 176 self-help associations, also releases an address-book. Therein are not only dialysis centres near Neuschwanstein castle, but also in Lyon or Cairo. An updated version will be available in August 2007. It will cost ten Euros and can be ordered with the association. An additional internet address, where more than 2000 centres are listed in a database, is Dialyse-Online (www.dialyse-online.de).

Anyone who succeeds in finding a dialysis centre near the desired travel destination should call there and ask if there is a free place available during the required time. One should enquire how much the treatment on site will cost and whether the centre balances accounts directly with the health insurance or if the patient has to pay the amount in the first instance.

Before the centre makes a positive response, the future patient should be asked for a dialysis report. “This is always a quality feature to me. When the centre asks for a dialysis report, one can assume that it conscientiously deals with possible problems ”, says Kleophas. The report issued by the treating doctor displays the status of the infection, recent laboratory values and information on how the home centre handles dialyses. Then the centre has the relevant information in order to really decide whether it will be possible to treat the patient.

“Before starting the holiday one should talk to the health insurance, in order to ensure that they will come up for the costs“, advises Christian Fenzel, chairman of the German Kidney Association. “Some insurances pay more, others less. It is always an invidual matter of negotiation.” This is so because a normative amount does not exist.

The majority of the clinics that propose dialysis during holidays have a high standard. However, experts advise to ask some questions beforehand such as if patients who suffer from hepatitis C are connected to separate machines in the centre. Otherwise other patients run the risk of infecting themselves with the virus. Further, one ought to ask which machines are on site. Important for patients, who do not speak other languages: Is German-speaking staff on the spot?

Anyone who does not dare to do the complex organisation on his own, can fall back upon travel agencies specialised in holidaymakers suffering from chronic kidney failure. They help with the handling of formalities. Some of these German travel agencies can be found on the website of Dialyse-Online.

REHACARE.de


Addresses:

Verband Deutsche Nierenzentren der DDnÄ e.V.
Postfach 132304
42050 Wuppertal
Telefon 0202 / 248 450
www.ddnae.de


Bundesverband Niere e.V.
Weberstraße 2
55130 Mainz
Telefon 06131 / 85152
www.bundesverband-niere.de